1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ribbon selecting mechanism for use with the printer wherein a ribbon on which plural color tracks are formed in the width direction of the ribbon is moved in the width direction thereof in order to select one of the plural color tracks.
2. Prior Art
Printers provided with ribbon cassettes have been often used as output mechanisms for various kinds of information machines.
In the case of those printers which carry out their printing in plural colors, their ribbons have plural color tracks formed thereon in the width direction thereof.
Japanese Patent Preliminary Publications 59-176084 and -182773 propose mechanisms for selecting any of the color tracks on the ribbon according to colors to be printed to achieve color printing.
In the case of these conventional mechanisms, a carriage on which a printing head is mounted is made freely movable in parallel to a platen, a ribbon cassette table is pivoted on the top of side supports by means of a rod parallel to the moving direction of the carriage, said side supports being formed by bending and erecting both sides of the carriage, a ribbon cassette in which a ribbon is housed is mounted on the ribbon cassette table, said ribbon having plural color tracks formed thereon in the width direction thereof, a part of the ribbon is arranged in run between the printing head and the platen, the ribbon cassette is made freely swingable round the rod at a same level as the platen, forward or backward rotation is transmitted from the output shaft of a stepping motor at the carriage to a sector gear fixed to the ribbon cassette table through a group of reduction gears, the ribbon cassette is driven to oppose an intended color track to the printing head, and the ribbon cassette and the ribbon cassette table are stopped by a detent mechanism to oppose the intended color track to the printing head, said detent mechanism being arranged at that portion of the carriage which is the nearest to the platen.
In the case of these conventional mechanisms, however, the ribbon cassette was swung by one rod to make the center of the platen coincident with the centerline of a desired color track on the ribbon. This made it necessary to project the supports formed by bending and erecting both sides of the carriage, the rod and the like sideward from both sides of the carriage, thereby causing the whole of this arrangement to be large-sized.